Vaughn tells why he’s returning to Faith Academy girls basketball

When Harvey Vaughn and his family decided to move to Burnet County and he resigned as the Round Rock Christian girls basketball head coach, he thought he was done coaching.

Shortly thereafter, he said, he discovered that Faith Academy of Marble Falls was seeking a girls basketball head coach. For Vaughn, it was a chance to return to where it all began.

“All the stars aligned, and I’m excited to be back,” he said. “Honestly, I was pretty much done (with coaching). I’d been wanting to move out of the city for awhile. In the middle of district play, I told my athletic director I’m not coming back. I found a lot, and it all fell into place.”

Vaughn began coaching as a volunteer at legendary girls basketball head coach Jerry English’s camps a decade ago. English’s teams have won 1,227 games against 261 losses with two state titles: the 1993-94 Dripping Springs Lady Tigers and the 2013-14 Faith Academy Lady Flames.

Vaughn was at the camp with his daughter in summer 2013 and really enjoyed being around English and the players. Soon after, English offered Vaughn a spot on his staff with the Lady Flames for the 2013-14 season that ended with the state title.

The following year, the Lady Flames welcomed Sedona Prince, who transferred in from Liberty Hill. Prince may best be known as the Oregon player who shot video of the lack of weights for the women’s NCAA Division I Tournament that showed the inequality between the men’s and women’s events. That video is credited for transforming the women’s tournament.

In Vaughn’s last year on staff, the Lady Flames had an incoming freshman, Paris Brinkley, who transferred back to Burnet for her senior year in 2018-19. Brinkley was the missing ingredient in helping the Lady Dawgs win the Class 4A Region III tournament and advance to the state tournament.

Those three seasons showed Vaughn Faith Academy’s true heart.

“I really enjoyed the people, the family atmosphere in the school,” he said. “I found out at other places, it isn’t necessarily like that. And I’m not talking about Round Rock Christian. Round Rock Christian was a great place. I met a lot of people. At Faith Academy, you feel like you’re supported by the administration, the parents and the community.”

Vaughn left Faith Academy to be the head coach at Round Rock Christian, a program that “hadn’t had a winning season or been to the playoffs in five years.”

“It was 10 minutes from my house,” he said. “We made the playoffs my first year.”

Two of his teams earned undefeated district titles, and his squads reached the regional finals three times and the state semifinal once. Each loss was to the eventual state champion every time.

“It was an extremely good run with my girls,” Vaughn said. “I’ve had to focus on development every year. If we can get down in the gym, we can build up those skills.”

As for his new team, Vaughn pointed out it has some nice pieces led by rising junior post Natalie Weems. Other contributors are rising sophomores Megan Burrows and Lilly Koziel and rising freshman Liv Kraenzel.

He said every player will be able to dribble and handle the ball.

“Everyone is going to train as a guard, and I coach it all,” he said. “We have a very young team,” he said. “We’re rebuilding skills and rebuilding basketball 101. We start driving the skills train. I think we’ll have girls who’ll be able to play by the time district rolls around.”

The Lady Flames are in District 4-3A with San Antonio Keystone, San Antonio Lutheran, San Juan Diego, San Marcos Academy, Temple Central Texas Christian and Waco Live Oak.

“I think San Antonio Lutheran and (Waco) Live Oak will be the top two teams,” Vaughn said. “And Central Texas Christian. They’re losing one or two of their top guards.”

He laughed when asked what he learned from English.

“The short answer is what didn’t I learn from coach English,” he said. “Everything I do has a kernel that starts with coach English. He and I have similar philosophies. I like to press more than he did. Of course his teams really didn’t need to. How I come prepared for practices. Every single day, I plan out the practices of what we’ll do every day. I think he’s very special with (building relationships). I think that’s one of his special gifts. In my own way, I get to know my players. Having great relationships with your players is paramount. It has to be fun to some extent. The hard work that goes with that.”

The program is seeking an assistant coach.

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